Farley Mowat has passed away at the age of 92. He lived out his life mainly in Cape Breton, where he spent his summers in retreat from his Port Hope, Ontario home, and which for him was indeed God’s Country. Seventeen million copies of his beloved works were published and his books were translated into 50 languages. I had the honour to meet him briefly once. It was humbling to hear him express his immediate support for our work (Shunpiking Magazine); this Man of the North knew more of our work than I of his. But what did we talk about? Literature? Natural history? Independent publishing? No, we cursed American imperialism. What united us as Canadians was that both of us had been secretly banned from entering the United States due to our political views, and this was 15 years or more before 9/11. Deemed “prejudicial to the public interest,” according to the McCarran-Walter Act. How does the U.S. make such a deermination? The US directly interferes in the internal affairs of Canada and operates with impunity from the Canadian state. One covert mission of its intelligence agencies within Canada is to compile dossiers on Canadian citizens; no one is exempt, not even a justly acclaimed and peace-loving writer then in his seventies. Such is the separation of politics and arts and literature and “human rights” American style.

My sincere condolences to the family of Farley Mowat, to his many many friends, and to all those in Canada and around the world, who profoundly mourn his loss.

ON DECEMBER 19 the Executive Committee of the Beyond the Border Action Plan made up of officials from the executives of the U.S. and Canada released its second report on how it is implementing the Beyond the Border Action Plan signed in 2011. This year’s report outlines pilot projects which place Canada’s security apparatus under U.S. command and control, in particular at key ports. Also highlighted are ongoing steps to hand over vast amounts of information to U.S. officials on who is travelling to and from Canada. Already there are reports that more Canadians are being harassed at entry to the United States on the basis of private information about their mental health taken “legally” from Canadian databases. There is also an increase in the number of unmanned drones flying in Canadian civilian airspace through the implementation of the Beyond the Border Action Plan. Continue reading →

Arts Journal (Dec. 31) –BOUJEMAA RAZGUI, a Canadian flute virtuoso who lives in New York and works with many US ensembles, was returning to base over the holiday when Customs officials at Kennedy Airport (JFK) asked to see his instruments. Bourjemaa carries a variety of flutes of varying ethnicity, each made by himself over years for specific types of ancient and modern performance. He is a regular guest with the diverse and enterprising Boston Camerata. At JFK, the officials removed and smashed each and every one of his instruments. No reason was given. Continue reading →

“Now, the entire U.S. perimeter has become part of a Fortress USA mentality and a lockdown reality.” | Ryan Bayne

(February 7, 2013) – Before September 11, 2001, more than half the border crossings between the United States and Canada were left unguarded at night, with only rubber cones separating the two countries. Since then, that 4,000 mile “point of pride,” as Toronto’s Globe and Mail once dubbed it, has increasingly been replaced by a U.S. homeland security lockdown, although it’s possible that, like Egyptian-American Abdallah Matthews, you haven’t noticed. Continue reading →